TiVo ratings show movie previews getting watched

According to the results of TiVo's 6 month old StopWatch ratings program, DVR users are watching movie previews they could easily skip.

StopWatch is a Nielsen-like product that measures audiences for commercials on a second-by-second basis, so that clients may determine the number of people in DVR households that are watching ads live or recorded or not at all, preferring to fast-forward them entirely or in part.

The service also counts households where commercials are rewound and viewed multiple times.

According to Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, the service is intended to augment the Nielsen TV ratings, which are the currency of the television commercial industry.

According to Todd Juenger, vice president and general manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement, there is not necessarily a correlation between the most-watched commercials and the most-viewed TV shows.

I think this type of monitoring is a great idea. It leads toward improving the outdated Nielsen TV ratings. We go crazy when "good" shows get canned, so we should be willing to share viewing habits in order to better the way things get done.

Originally posted by t3572: What the hell. I'm paying them to monitor my viewing habits. Then they turn around & sell that info. What a freakin ripoff.

Why on earth would you pay ANYBODY to monitor your viewing habits???

OH... you mean you are paying for a DVR which just happens to monitor your viewing habits...not quite the same thing.

I would think that this would be disclosed in any type of service agreement that you signed (or a EULA). And if this is not, or was not, clearly listed that it would take place then as a customer you should take them to task for this action which you perceive to be a rip off. Side note: others may view it more as an invasion of privacy I guess it just depends on whether one's concern is money [rip off] or privacy [spy ware]

Then of course there is the previous post about it essentially acting to enhance the Neilson ratings which DEFINATELY need enhancing. By providing this data (assuming it hopefully doesn't identify private data or individuals) it certainly can assist in helping to provide more accurate info on what shows people are watching-- even if they are watching at a later date which still makes the show worth more money than one that isn't being watched at all!

Of course it could also be that by this monitoring and selling of aggregated non identifiable (????) info being sold COULD mean a reduced cost of service for you and if you were to opt out you would end up costing yourself more money by the loss of your TiVo being subsidized through the sale of this data... maybe not... I don't TiVO and as such didn't read the agreement they have you sign when you signed up....

But then apparently you didn't read it either. (lol)

--peace

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 23 Jul 2007 @ 0:35

I heard if you have a Tivo and watch a lot of gardening shows, that you will get gardening type advertisements in your mail. Commercials suck. Why cant they offer a super premium plan that skips all commercials. Only in a perfect world.

I don't know anybody that skips the previews at the movies, so it makes perfect sense that people watch them on TV, as well. Heck, my wife won't go the movies unless we get there in time FOR the previews.

As for commercials, all this talk of getting rid of them or skipping them completely is ridiculous. In a hypothetical discussion, sure, get rid of them. In the real world commercials are what pay for the TV shows. If commercials go away then eventually "free" TV goes away and cable TV gets more expensive. Without commercials then every channel is going to cost $10-$15, like HBO or Showtime.

Originally posted by loxley32: I don't know anybody that skips the previews at the movies, so it makes perfect sense that people watch them on TV, as well. Heck, my wife won't go the movies unless we get there in time FOR the previews.

As for commercials, all this talk of getting rid of them or skipping them completely is ridiculous. In a hypothetical discussion, sure, get rid of them. In the real world commercials are what pay for the TV shows. If commercials go away then eventually "free" TV goes away and cable TV gets more expensive. Without commercials then every channel is going to cost $10-$15, like HBO or Showtime.

I rant on the previews in the theater their wasting time with that crap if they want to show them show them when it ends :P

I hate it so much I avoid it as all cost on DVDs.
they can advertise stuff all they want but the more intrusive it is the more I turn away from all types of broadcasting.